Identification of Hematomas in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Using an Index of Quantitative Brain Electrical Activity

Abstract Rapid identification of traumatic intracranial hematomas following closed head injury represents a significant health care need because of the potentially life-threatening risk they present. This study demonstrates the clinical utility of an index of brain electrical activity used to identify intracranial hematomas in traumatic brain injury (TBI) presenting to the emergency department (ED). Brain electrical activity was recorded from a limited montage located on the forehead of 394 closed head injured patients who were referred for CT scans as part of their standard ED assessment. A total of 116 of these patients were found to be CT positive (CT+), of which 46 patients with traumatic intracranial hematomas (CT+) were identified for study. A total of 278 patients were found to be CT negative (CT−) and were used as controls. CT scans were subjected to quanitative measurements of volume of blood and distance of bleed from recording electrodes by blinded independent experts, implementing a validated ...